Graffiti star Banksy’s 2008 painting "Umbrella Girl" is covered with plywood with a guard posted for its protection. Readers reported Friday that a construction crew was cutting the masonry on the Drop-In Center on North Rampart Street at Kerlerec Street to remove the Banksy, which has been preserved beneath a clear plastic sheet.

That same day, however, WWL television reported that neighbors stepped in to stop alleged thieves from stealing the Banksy. Indeed, a New Orleans police report bears that out, saying an attempted theft was reported at 8:54 p.m., having occurred about 1 p.m., said officer Garry Flot, a Police Department spokesman. The owner estimated the piece's value at "several thousands of dollars."

Police were seeking two men, each 25 to 35 years old with light complexions. One was said to be about 6 feet tall with short hair. The other was about 5 feet, 9 inches tall and unshaven and wore a The Home Depot apron. They drove away in a white Budget rental truck on Kerlerec.

On Saturday, a temporary plywood wall was erected around the painting and a guard was posted for its protection.

Clay Lapeyrouse, who lives in Bywater, was suspicious of a four- or five-person work crew that he came upon sawing the Banksy from the Rampart Street building. In a telephone conversation Saturday, Lapeyrouse said he had seen a photo of the removal in progress that was posted by a friend on Facebook. At roughly 2:30 p.m., he decided to “drop by and see what was going on.”

“Sure enough,” he said, “they were cutting it out of the building.”

The workers, whom he described as beingin their 30s and 40s were not “hostile or rude,” yet “the story they gave me just seemed weird,” he said.

Asked what they up to, a member of the group said they were removing the Banksy at the owner’s request to take it to a museum. When Lapeyrouse asked which museum, they had no answer. Also, Lapeyrouse said he noticed that they did not have work permits.

So Lapeyrouse called the police. It was difficult to impress upon them the urgency of the situation, he said.

“I told them this was a valuable piece of artwork,” he said.

Lapeyourse estimates that the workmen packed up and left in a rented pickup truck at roughly 4:30 p.m. Sometime during the afternoon, a neighbor took pictures of the site and the men at work. (If you have photos of the Banksy removal in progress, please call Doug MacCash at 504.460.3492 or email dmaccash@nola.com.)

“This did not seem like it was on the up and up, that’s why I did as much as I could to prevent it from leaving the spot,” he said.

Bob Abdalian, an attorney for the owners of the building where the Banksy is located, Mantua LLC, said that the painting was not being removed on the owner's orders. Abdalian said that though the owners had placed the protective plastic over the painting, the condition of the property is their first concern.

“The owners’ position is simply for the safety and the preservation of the building,” he said.

Tracy Ashe, a Bywater resident, said that she visited the scene in the mid-afternoon after the men removing the painting had departed. She said that the removal was apparently almost complete. The painting, she said, was held in place by a single reinforcing rod beneath the masonry.

This photo taken through a crack in the plywood covering Banksy's 'Umbrella Girl' shows that the artwork has not been damaged by an attempted removal. On Saturday, a guard was posted in front of the artwork on Rampart Street. (Doug MacCash, NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune)

Banksy appeared in New Orleans in 2008 as Hurricane Gustav bore down on the Gulf Coast. He and his minions executed a suite of stencils that poetically addressed the post 2005 flood recovery.

Banksy’s ‘Umbrella Girl’ was among the most beautiful and poignant of his compositions. The image featured a young girl who, naturally, relied on her umbrella for protection, but discovered that the umbrella itself was the source of the rain.

New Orleanians who presumed levee protection were immediately able to relate to the "Umbrella Girl’s" existential situation.

. . . . . . .

Jacob Bielanski contributed to this report.

This story was updated Saturday to reflect the WWL television report, statements from concerned neighbors and a lawyer representing the property owner and the police report.